The Little Bird and the Lark
by Trust Gavroche
Summary: Gavroche is a twelve year old street gamin who lives with his adopted family of six others like him. He's known nothing but hardship all his life. Will that all change when he is introduced to the world of the posh? Is everyone rich as snotty as described, or will he find friendship/love there? Set in France 1830ish, somewhat AU. Better than described if I do say so myself.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'll let you guess about the title. Although this is my first time writing from first person, I'm really proud of this story so far and can't wait to continue writing it; although most of the idea credit goes to my dad, who was kind of branching of Star Wars. You'll see. Aneii is That Creative One's name, but I made up his character in this story. Some of Gavroche's gamins' names are quite popular, so no offense or anything to anyone. Please enjoy!**

**-Gav**

* * *

The quickly fading light hurried my steps as I jogged towards a large gray elephant that dominated much of the Paris horizon from where I was. I clutched a piece of bread, still clinging to its warmth, under my frayed, dusty blue jacket. It had taken me ages to weasel into the bakery and swipe it without being noticed. I hated stealing as much as the next gamin, but sometimes we were all forced to do it in order to provide for ourselves, and in my case, six other hungry mouths. Cloudy puffs of air sprung from my mouth as I panted in the cool, late September air. The elephant was only a block away now, so I picked up the pace. The last thing I wanted was to be out and about when prostitutes and their customers emerged from wherever they spent the day.

The elephant's ghostly coldness numbed my fingers and made me shiver as I jumped and scrabbled for a hold on its freezing stone toenail with worn leather boots and bare hands. I swung the rest of my small self up and then paused. Hands over hips and feet spread apart like I was king, I surveyed my city. The sun was half-submerged under the hilly horizon, casting the sky in gorgeous pink and orange hues. Figures in long coats with their collars turned up against the chill were hurrying home after another day. From below my feet, I could hear the various high-pitched giggles and screeches of my younger friends messing about in our little hideaway.

Cracking a small smile, I lowered myself down into the narrow hole. It must have been a funny sight from below, first seeing a pair of boot-clad feet, then skinny, pinstriped tan pants over knobbly knees, and finally a bulging blueish jacket and the face of a smiling boy who had seen better days. I swung around with one numb hand gripping the edge of the hole and the other clasped over my jacket for a few seconds before landing lightly on the dusty floor. Cheers of "Welcome back Gavroche!" erupted though the gloom as I was greeted with six little faces beaming up at me.

"Aneii! Sebastian! Henri! Maxime! Camille! Daniel!" I greeted the little gamins happily. Each was vying to get ahold of the large lump under my jacket as I playfully avoided them.

Aneii, the youngest, was only five years old. His scruffy black hair, large green eyes, and too-skinny limbs were definitely not ideal for a boy his age, but I did my best to be like a mother or papa to him. Aneii was rather cute and quite the character, always getting into some sort of trouble or tight spot, and he had quite a pair of lungs. He and Daniel were nearly inseparable.

Daniel was seven, and had a rather sloppy brown buzz-cut that may or may not have been the result of Sebastian and I messing around with a pair of scissors one say. He was Aneii's partner in crime, although Daniel had a softer side to him that I think Aneii lacked. He was almost like a grown-up friend of mine, Jehan. They both had big hazel eyes that glowed whenever something struck their fancy or they had an idea, whether it be naughty or nice.

Henri and Camille were twins, both sporting the same can-do, people-wary personality, smooth brown hair, and blue eyes that rivaled the Seine. I could identify with them, as all three of us had been kicked out of our houses and abusive families at a young age. I think it was worth for them though, because I found them when they were three. That was three years ago. At least they had each other.

Maxime could have been my sister. We both had a Roman nose, straggly dirty blonde hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and were about the same height. She was only eight but very tall for her age. Maxime was a rather quiet girl, but fiercely independent. Once, a few years ago, Daniel had tried to help her do something- I can't remember what- with her ragged doll and she gave him a black eye that was quite impressive. The doll's long gone now but Daniel is still real cautious around her.

Sebastian was ten and my best friend. Maybe it was because were so close in age, with me being twelve and all, or maybe it was because I had helped rescue him from under a cart, or maybe it was our similar personalities, but I felt that I could share anything with him, and sometimes I got the same vibe from him. Sebastian was quite the looker, with curly, slightly-ginger locks that covered the top half of his ears and owlish green eyes stood out against a pale, freckled face.

After living in the streets for quite some time, I had slowly come upon these unfortunate souls like me and we shared everything. I thought of them as my brothers and sisters.

Successfully defending my precious burden, I waited until all six were sitting cross-legged around me. Kneeling down, I slowly unbuttoned my coat to revel the slightly smushed, crisp brown bread. Collective gasps and squeals were heard as they all stopped fidgeting and admired it. Grinning, I slowly tore off chunks of the barely-warm bread and placed it in dirty little outstretched palms, which quickly stuffed the bread into starving mouths.

"Mmfhnks, Gabroffhe!" Sebastian mumbled through a mouth full of the stuff. It served as a gentle reminder to the rest of the younglings, and they all thanked my with slightly muffled voices.

For once, I didn't worry about rationing the food. All that was important was keeping everyone fed, and the whole loaf of bread could last us about three days if we all ate it now. Besides, everyone was obviously happy with the day's loot.

After everyone's stomachs were content, I had my share - which was the smallest by far, but that was okay because they needed it more than I did and besides I had a carrot earlier today - and polished off the loaf.

"So, how was everyone's day?" I queried.

"Ooh!" Aneii squirmed from his spot on the ground and waved his hand around, nearly knocking Camille in the head and earning a softened scowl from her.

"Hmm, let's see. No one wants to tell me about their day?" I teased, pretending to stroka beard like I had seen grown-ups do.

"Meee me meeeeee!" Aneii cried.

I stifled a laugh at his antics. "Yes, Ne?"

Aneii beamed a smug smile and said "Well when you left, Henri found a worm and we named it Zelma and then let it free and it was slimy and squiggly and I wanted to keep it but Sebastian said no."

"Where did you put Zelma?" I asked, wondering how Aneii knew the nickname of my older blood sibling. I'd have to ask Sebastian about that later...

"Outside," Maxime piped up, her brown eyes glittering in the little light that we had.

I narrowed my own eyes. "You guys went outside? For how long? When?" I knew I was being overprotective, but I'd die if anything happened to my little family.

"We were careful, Gavroche! It was an hour or two after you left, and we were only out there for a few minutes!" Henri protested. Daniel and Sebastian nodded, confirming what Henri said.

I sighed. "All right, if Sebastian was there with you and it was only for a few minutes and you were saving a worm, I guess it was okay. Just be careful out there. If Inspector Javert gets ahold of us..." I trailed off, knowing full well that they knew what I was hinting at. They all nodded solemnly.

"Anyways," I clapped my hands and rose to my feet, "I'm glad you guys all had a good day! I'm really sorry I was away but tomorrow sounds like a good day for exploring, doesn't it?"

Just like I had expected, cheers rose from the little group. "Alrighty then, we'd better get off to bed, eh?" Groans replaced the former merriment as everyone stood up and made their way to their respective "beds." The sunset was over now, and we were left in complete darkness. We didn't have enough money for a candle. I could have stolen one, I guess, but it was a lot funner in the utter blackness.

"Night, Aneii and Daniel. Night, Henri. Night Maxime, Camille, and Sebastian."

A soft chorus of "Night," echoed through our elephant home and I grinned as I curled up next to the coll and unforgiving stone wall. It probably wasn't the best for my health, but I hated sleeping too close to everyone else. Clausterphobic in a way I guess.

I was woken up in the middle of the night by Aneii. He had crawled over from the group and was crouched by me. "I had a nightmare, Vroche," he whispered. The very faint glow of moonlight came through from the entrance hole and gave him a slightly ghastly, shadowed-marble appearance. The kid was shaking, partially from the cold and maybe from whatever dream he had, so I opened an arm to him.

"C'mere, you," I whispered back.

Aneii snuggled up next to me with a soft sigh. "Thanks Vroche! Night," I tousled his hair in response and we both drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Author's Note

**A/N:** I have bittersweet news! :P I'm really glad that you guys have liked this story so far, but it will be on hiatus for a month. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, which is basically where you write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November, and I've picked The Little Bird and the Lark to work on. That means no updates until December, and possibly later if I edit and clear it up, but eventually the whole story will be on here. This first chapter will be revamped as well. I've got almost everything planned out and can't wait to start working on the story again. Thanks for your support and I dearly hope you understand. (A cookie if it makes you feel any better: **(::)**)

_~With love, Trust Gavroche_


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